Phone lines are open. Andcrats, republicans, independents. You can also catch up with us on social media, twitter and facebook. A very good monday morning to you. Should the u. S. Toughen drug sentencing . You can call it now. The headline from the reporting on this, attorney general Jeff Sessions charts course back to long drug sentences. The trumpet era of Drug Enforcement has officially arrived, and it sounds like the old days. The message came on friday in the form of a memo from ag Jeff Sessions to all federal prosecutors, stop seeking leniency and start seeking the toughest sentence as possible. We are seeing an increase in Violent Crimes in our cities, particularly in baltimore, chicago, memphis, and milwaukee and many others. The murder rate has surged 10 nationwide. Largest increase in murder since 1968. We know that drugs and crime go handinhand, they just do, the facts prove it. Drug trafficking is an inherently dangerous and violent business. If you want to collect a drug debt you can file a lawsuit, you collected with the barrel of a gun. In 2015, more than 52,000 americans died from a Drug Overdose that is a stunning number. According to a report by the new england journal of medicine, the price of heroin is down, purity is up, availability is up. We intend to reverse this trend. We are returning to the enforcement of the law thi passed by congress, plain and simple. If youre a drug trafficker, we will not look the other way, we will not be willfully blind to your misconduct. We are talking about, for example, a kilogram of hero in, 10,000 doses on the street. Five kilograms of cocaine, 10,000 kilograms of marijuana. These are not lowlevel drug offenses. We in the federal courts are focusing on this. These are drug dealers and new drug dealers are going to prison. Emerged,ce those memos even in todays papers, it continues. Heres a column in new york given mr. H sessionss long record as is a list prosecutors and is known views on the dangers of drug use,s push to ramp up the war on drugs was hardly a surprise, but it is still striking because it ran so contrary to the growing bipartisan consensus coursing through washington in many state capitals, a view that america was guilty of excessive incarceration and that large prison populations were too costly. The story goes on to say that a s he succeeded installing the sentencing reform movement, he sent it reeling, and it could be hard for advocates to regain their footing while he is the nations chief Law Enforcement official. We are getting your thoughts this morning. Should the United States toughen drug sentencing . Give us a call, republicans00 202 7488001, independents 202 7488002. Marys up first in fort washington, maryland. Democrat. Caller good morning, how are you . Host doing well. Jeff sessions, the man who wallowed through jim crow like it was a ballet, he knows nothing but racism. Hes trying to eliminate president obamas era, but its not going to work. I hope the states reject everything he puts out. Here is a man that probably has a little black jockey in his backyard that he is hiding. He has no business being host lets hold off with speculation about his backyard caller he is a racist. When you are a racist you have things like that. Host tell me what you think he is a racist. Caller he comes from my home state of alabama, race land. Ask any of the people what his agenda was when he was there. He is an attorney general for the wrong time. I dont know what youre he thinks he is what era he thinks he is in. He wants to go back in time. With the drug charges . We are trying not to put people in jail for having a joint or something,a nd you want to do something about drugs . You put people in rehab, not in jail, which is what he wants to do. Just wants to go back in time. And most people, you will have the democrats who cant stand him, republicans who love him, because that is how we are divided, by race. The only thing that will help is a race war, i guess. Get this swamp team host what do you mean by a race war . Caller a race war is what a race war is. White people out in the street fighting to bring this country together. But if you have a race war, you will have black and white and asian people fighting the racist white people. Host all right, lets go to lowell, republicans. Good morning. Caller thanks for taking my call. The main thing with drugs is that they are just too easily acquired. The Death Penalty needs to be them so they can give them a reference for why not to do it. The lady who was just speaking speaks extreme hatred, and the hatred that is going on between republicans and democrats has been bred by barack obama and holder and so many of the others. Thisot saying that created all the problems, but the biggest problem is that the laws do not reflect if you touch a redhot ember and burn your hand, you dont do it again. But if you go out and get these drugs, and you make so much money, plus others think you are there host you begin by calling for a Death Penalty when it comes to drug trafficking. At what point would you institute that . Caller at what point what i say you should do it . Ave cocaine andh that i the things think 56,000 people died this year alone from opioids i lost my son to someone who ran them off the road and was allowed to go because he had a fancy lawyer. The same thing goes true with these individuals who get caught and then a fancy lawyer gets them off. If you create an environment where by which you will burn your hand so badly, you will not do it again. Thats basically what it is going to take, certainly in so many areas. And god bless everyone, i hope you dont hate me for saying it, but the bottom line is that its coming the matter what you do. When it comes your child will be living or dead, and so many are suffering while so many are gaining, making money off this. Our world is whacked out. Host we will go to terry and lafayette, indiana. Independent. Should the u. S. Toughen drug sentencing . Caller no. Jeff sessions is a fool. Before they passed the prohibition of alcohol, there were no alcohol gangs. When they passed the law, the crime rate went up 70 . Before they passed the drug laws , there were no murderous drug gangs. Pass the laws, and went up 100 . They repealed the alcohol law 13 years after they passed it, and it went back down 70 and broke up all the murderous alcohol games. Gangs. It dont take a Rocket Scientist to figure out what you should do with the drug laws. If you repeal the drug laws, you cut the crime rate in half. This is a fascist country, a police state nation. Got sixd india have times more people than we do, but we have more locked up than they do, and we are supposed to be a free country . Host terry in indiana. Reaction from members of congress on friday and throughout the weekend. Senator dick durbin is the minority whip in the senate. He says this new policy contradicts consensus to reduce sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. He also says it would separate their families and he wrote faith and our criminal justice system. Rand paul hasnt pushing for criminal Justice Reform for a while. Part of the statement he released, mandatory minimum sentences have unfairly and disproportionately incarcerated too many minorities for too long. The new policy will accentuate that injustice. Instead, we should treat our drug epidemic as a health crisis, and less as a lock them up and throw away the key crisis. Senator tom cotton, republican from arkansas, wrote, i agree with attorney general Jeff Sessions that Law Enforcement should side with the victims of crime rather than its perpetrators. This policy is common sense and will reduce crime in our neighborhoods. Bob casey from pennsylvania, this is wrong. The department of justice should focus on persecuting violent criminals, not nonviolent drug offenders. We must reform our criminal justice system. Here are the comments on twitter from members of the United States senate. We want to hear from you. Members of the u. S. Are public. Steve is in ridgeway, pennsylvania. Republican. Good morning. Caller good morning. Old, of all, im 58 years but when i look back over the years, i dont know anybody i know lots of people who did a fair amount of drugs, and not a lifee one of them had a that turned around and got better when they got into drugs. Do people who sell drugs and prey on the weak . Absolutely, they deserve to go to prison. There should be healthy sentences. People talk about smoke a joint and sent them to prison, that has happened in the past, but realistically, i dont think so. I cant believe how much time you gave that first color to rail on about race wars. Thats unconscionable. Thatsople to think that the answer is beyond the pale. I would know that love to see somebody that got in perfect order when they started doing cocaine and heroin, because it just doesnt happen. Thats pretty much it. Enjoy your show. , thanks have a good day. Host clotteys in riverview, florida. Democrat. Good morning. Caller hi, thanks for taking my call. Jeff sessions is simply a distraction. Lets be honest, lots of kids around the country have used tough drug sentencing throughout the years. That is why many senators like rand paul and cory booker have joined together to lessen drug sentences. Have less thanwe 5 of the worlds people, but we have more than 25 of all the incarcerated people. Something is wrong with our priorities here. I dont see why the senate and the house are not focusing on the obstruction of justice that our president is doing. Lets be honest, how do you fire the man that investigating you . Many of his travel bans have been upheld by the court, because they are simply wrong. I would like to know where the spine of the Republican Party is. None of them come out and push backck against donald trump firing jim comey. Lets look at the situation for what it is. The president does have financial ties with russia. He keeps making the statement that, oh, i have no investments in russia host we are going to get to russia and comey later in todays program, when we take our viewers out to axios, the new media publication. Their headquarters is in arlington, and we will be talking to some of their reporters. But we want to stay on the topic of should the United States toughen drug sentencing. Dave is in greenville, tennessee. Go ahead. Caller i appreciate you taking my call. Cspan, although there is to be lots of opinions this morning, hateful things going on. Host what do you think . Caller the drug situation, we keep building more and more jails, and obviously thats not curing the problem. Our sentencing seems to be petty. We have so many people, good people, that are locked up that really just need a little bit of counseling, or maybe some probation, some way of getting their life back on track. Jailtime would take them away from the drug, or take them out of their situation for a period of time, but by and large, when people get out of jail, they go right back to their habits, not back to their groups. The problem is still there. Id like to see us spend more time and effort on curing them, curing the problem, curing the mindset of people that feel like the drugs are the answer to their situations. Host more of your calls in just a minute. One programming note for cspan viewers. Today, monday, may 15, a threejudge panel at the ninth court of appeals in seattle will hear oral arguments on president trumps revised to travel ban executive order. The court is considering an appeal on the ruling blocking the president s ban on issuing visas to citizens of six majority muslim countries and halting the u. S. Refugee program. Earlier, cspan petitioned that court to consider allowing a live broadcast of the case, and it was granted. Our live coverage of that begins today at 12 30 on cspan. You can also catch it at cspan. Org and listen to it on cspan radio. More of your calls, talking about the memo that attorney general Jeff Sessions issued on friday. It rescinds two key eric holder memos, one telling prosecutors to show lenience for lowlevel, nonviolent drug offenders; the second, restricting the use of a law that toughens sentences for repeat offenders. Eric holder had plenty to say about the current attorney generals decision on friday. He is quoted in todays washington times, put out a lengthy statement. Whose owner, initiatives were rescinded, called the policy on wise and illinformed. The policy announced is dumb on crime, he said in his statement. It is an ideologically motivated, cookiecutter approach that has only been proven to generate unfairly long sentences often applied indiscriminately, and do little to achieve longterm public safety. Mr. Holders policy are part of the smart on crime initiative. We want to hear your thoughts on the actions of the current attorney general on friday, the memos he issued, and what you think the United States should do. Charlie is in westlake, ohio. Republican. Good morning. Caller hi, thank you for your show. Republican, but i have a libertarian bent. I think the whole system is messed up. Lawyers, judges, prisons, corrections officers. Its a big money thing. It doesnt work. Prohibition doesnt work. All that money should be put into rehab and education, people would do much better. Here in ohio, we have all these overdoses, and i believe mostly because our governor and our e able togeneral ar prescribe Pain Medicine to people who are in pain. Then they get out on heroin and sentine fentanyl and they die. We didnt have all of these overdoses when people just got their Pain Medicine for legitimate doctors, and now we have this big overdose problem, and we need to double down with longer prison sentences, it doesnt make sense. Host the argument for no restrictions at all, on any of these different kinds of drugs . Caller well, no, i think the bad ones, heroin, stuff like that, we can reduce a lot of the mexican importing. But we are going legal with marijuana, i think that should happen. Its a ridiculous thing that this country has tried to do. People should be able to do what they want if they are adults. Host and less restrictions on opioids is what you are arguing . Caller the restriction on opioids overdose they do it, the people that are doing stuff out on the streets. Let people have their painkillers no one was dying in this country, overdosing on vicodin or percocet. They are overdosing on illegal, off the street these people get whatever they want, and people are dying because of our politicians wrongheaded decisions. Host jack is in williamson, north carolina. Democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning, john. Androther passed away, drugs i saw over the years took hold of his life. There was no stopping it. It was like watching a train wreck. When you are a young man, you swear you are never going to be im obviously not, im still alive, but drugs always lead to other, bigger, badder things. You have to do like other countries and they threw the book at them the first time. The amount doesnt matter. They always want more. One of the callers earlier said if all that money that was put into locking them up could be put into rehab, we would be better off as a country. What do you think . Caller its a mental, brain thing, just like addiction is the addiction, whether it is alcohol, cigarettes, coffee. Money it is there in the prison systems, and all the rehab in the world, until the person is going to break that habit back in the day they said a monkey on your back. Its an epidemic thats lifetime, that i have watched over the years. Its just not a sack of weed, its just not a bridge to bigger and worse things. Host what was your brothers name . Caller rudy. Host thanks for sharing rudys story with us. Bill is in leland, mississippi. Good morning. Caller good morning, america. I just want to explain something. America, first of all, you know this country is racist. 100 times more cocaine to get the same sentence as crack cocaine. Thats a racial disparity. And years and years, lives are lost, but they are only black lives anyway. Its a sad thing with slavery, with jim crow, and thats the reason the first caller said we would have a race war. This is private prisons on the stock market, you have the open if you are going to let your nannies and gardeners in, in and bring the drugs and we are going to do what we have to do host where do you stand . What do you want to see . What would fix the problem . Caller what would fix the problem . Legalizing drugs and fixing the border. Legalizing drugs in fixing the border. You arent going to lock up all my people like you have been doing. That is where the first caller said race for. We host all right, we will move on. Ron in pennsylvania. The republican line. Good morning. Caller good morning. I think it starts at the border. I watch shows about the border wars and such, and they are confiscating tons and tons of marijuana, cocaine, money, all kinds of stuff. I think of it the government is like a boat. They are in a big boat, it is sinking, and they bring more teaspoons in. Why not just fix the hole in the boat . But they dont think that way, its all to do with money. Everything this government does has to do with money. If you go back to the 1960s, look at all the concerts and stuff they had in the 1960s, and with all the marijuana smoking. Nothing ever happened. But now they have this cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, all this stuff. They just dont stop. Its coming up from the border. What they need to do here is legalize marijuana, make jobs because that is part of the problem, nobody has anything to do but sit around and do drugs, nobody has got money, so the way to make money as they sell drugs. Its just all to do with money. Host a few tweets on this topic. Before i can make a call on the motive behind tougher sentencing, i want to see how much stock they havent private prisons. This is a major step backwards. It was tried and was an abysmal failure. It is time to lower unfair incarceration, not increase it. Putting attics in jail is not going to stop trafficking, take the profit out of it. Heres more from Jeff Sessions on friday after making the announcement. Today i am announcing that i sent a memo to the United States attorneys last night establishing a charging and sentencing policy for this department of justice. Our responsibility is to facilitate our role in a way that accords with law, advances public safety, and promotes respectful and consistency in our legal system. Charging and sentencing recommendations are that rock responsibilities of any prosecutor, and i trust our prosecutors in the field to make good judgments. They deserve to be on handcuffed and not micromanaged from washington. Rather, they must be permitted to apply the law to the facts of each investigation. Lets be clear we are forcing the laws that congress has passed, that is both our fundamental mission and our constitutional duty. Going forward, i have empowered our prosecutors to charge and pursue the most serious offense, as i believe the law requires, the most serious, readily provable offense. That means that we are going to meet our responsibility to enforce the law with judgment and fairness. It is simply the right and moral thing to do. Thatt is important to note unlike previous charging memoranda, i have given our prosecutors discretion to avoid sentences that will result in an injustice. Host if you want to watch that full event with Jeff Sessions on friday, you can always go to our website, cspan. Org. The washington times, in its notesge of this change, that attorney general sessions has yet to appoint any of his own u. S. Attorneys to lead the Justice Department offices across the United States. Acting officials currently hold the roles after mr. Sessions fired the remainder of the u. S. Attorneys who had been appointed by his obama era predecessors. Former prosecutors say prospective candidates will likely be asked how they feel about this order, and their thoughts on enforcement, during the interviews for those positions. Getting your thoughts, should the United States toughened drug sentencing . Eric is in constant, california. Democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning, america. I have been listening to everybody, and the question is, where is our mercy and compassion at . This is a mercy and compassion issue. This is what we are looking at. This issue has to start at home, in our own communities. We need to bring churches into this conversation. We have the money to do everything we want to hear in america. We are rich. The churches are wealthy, we can do anything we want to. Anyone who thinks we can fix it by turning these people are entitled to health care. We can afford it, we can do it, thats how simple it is. Host when you talk about mercy and compassion, what about the caller before, that said if there is no consequence, or light consequences, that it only encourages people to do it again . Caller mercy and compassion is a consequence. An opportunity to fix the problem, and we can fix the problem in america by helping each other, not i making it about money. System. N in the it does not work. It takes mercy and compassion. Everybody working together. We have the money. It takes the churches, the community, and sitting down at the dinner table to have a talk. This is the year we are supposed to start over host talk about that experience in the system. Why did you go to prison and what didnt work . Caller my way of thinking. I grow up at compton. I was already rich with the poor mans mentality. Host what did you go to prison for, eric . Caller crack cocaine, selling crack cocaine. In the 1990s. I got caught up in the system. I tried to make it rich on my own, instead of staying home and working in the community, going to church. God is real, yall, and until we learn to work under the supervision of us all working together as one community, this is what you are going to get. Host when did you make that change in your thinking . What was it that changed your thinking . Caller a divorce. Failure, going to prison, realizing i have ia mistake in how i see myself in america. First, being more spiritual. Recognizing its not all about myself. Learning about charity. The church and spirituality. Its not about self. Drug abuse and drugs are about the self. Until america learns about areassion and mercy, we failing miserably. Host compton. Sean is in greenville, south carolina. Independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you, sir . Host doing well. Caller glad you are bringing this up. If you study the history of the ama, rockefeller bought them out in 1910. As soon as he did that, shortly after he made cannabis illegal, alcohol illegal, etc. , because he wanted to monopolize synthetic drugs. Today, according to the cbc, properly prescribed prescription drugs kill more people than all Illegal Drugs combined. You have banks laundering drug money. They have been doing it since, i think since the 1950s basically. In the 1980s, florida was notorious for laundering cocaine money. Wells fargo, out in 2011, they got caught laundering over 387 billion in drug money, and not one banker goes to jail. Thanks certainly dont want it legal. The private prison industry doesnt want it legal. The president s of Central America between colombia and mexico, they want drugs to be legal. But the United States government tells them no, because the United States government is notorious for dealing it. In vietnam, they were caught bringing heroin in coffins of american soldiers to america host same question to you, from the previous caller. Do you want to make all drugs legal . Caller absolutely, like in portugal and holland. All drugs legal, all times, all drug use went down. Host and heroin would be something he drew the line at, and i believe you said cocaine you are not drawn and . Caller in portugal and holland, as soon as they made it legal, all the drug uses have gone down. The United States government brings most of the cocaine and heroin and the banks laundering and the government makes more money with the private industry. Host 7 35 this morning on the east coast, and we will be taking our washington journal s just across the potomac river. Were going to be talking with some of the cofounders of axios, some of their reporters, about the politics, health care issues, and some of the issues that come with starting a new Media Company in this media environment. Stick around for that. That will be from 8 00 to 10 00 this morning on washington journal. Steve is in amherst, ohio. Republican. Should the United States toughen drug sentencing . Go ahead. Caller no, it doesnt matter either way. Every date, legalize it or they dont, the drugs will still be here. They are not going to stop. That thet to realize world is going down regardless. People have to wake up and see that. I dont think its going to make a big difference one way or another. Host lori, dallas, texas. Democrats. Go ahead. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Caller good morning. Before, thelled chiropractor, thes hes not crazy. They need to legalize it. Host are you from no restrict are you for no restrictions . Caller absolutely. I think they should set up shop and have a nurse or Nurse Practitioner there. Host what would you say caller pardon me . Host what would you say to folks who say it is enabling drug users . Caller i dont think its enabling them, they are going to do it anyway. I used to be a Dallas County bondsman for nine years. Its not really enabling them. They are going to get it. Host what is your experience as a bondsman . Offenders. Eated [laughter] out,go to prison, they get and i would see them in 18 months, two years max. Like, what are you doing back here already . Well, you know how it goes. Plus, they cannot get a job. Host what would change things, lori . Caller its sad. And what really bugs me is whats going on in the white house. They have all the dirty republicans in there running the show that probably own half the prisons. Its big money. Host thats lori in texas. Gilbert is in tulsa, oklahoma. Independents. Good morning. Caller yes, the problem with drugs is that the criminal element has run this show. I am talking about the people in washington, d. C. And the Prison Industrial Complex. We have such shortterm memory that we cannot go back to Ronald Reagan and irancontra. The cia brought in the first drug, and it started in vietnam with the body carriages of those dead soldiers. Our cia, look what they have done around the world. Right there in Central America. The shining past was fighting for freedom, from the National Fruit companies, because they wanted to grow food, not bananas. But the cia said we would take care of it, and what did they do . They bombed nicaragua. They got rid of all those people, and we are paying the price. 90 of the people coming here from latin america are not for mexico, they are from Central America. No drugs should be illegal. Look at portugal. Look at the netherlands. In portugal, the war that we call on drugs, its nothing but money making for wall street. Host dilbert in oklahoma. We mentioned before that the attorney general, in the process of hiring new attorney generals after removing the last of the obama era attorney generals, one of those former u. S. Rahorneys was preet baha with the Southern District of new york from 2009 until march. He has a common in todays Washington Post on restoring the faith in the rule of law in washington. He notes in that column that he joins a common sense call for an independent and uncompromised special counsel to oversee the russia investigation, given the manner of former fbi director comeys firing. One other column on that same topic in todays wall street by the former whitewater independent counsel. He writes about rod rosensteins compelling case against comey. Thats the headline. He says the call for an independent counsel are way off base, at a minimum the suggestion is premature. The bureaus investigation into russias involvement in the 2016 election is continuing under the leadership of the acting director of the fbi. In addition, the work of the by fateis an the unhappy of one public servant, but everything is in place. If you want to read that, its an the wall street journal today. One other oped, by a freshman member of congress who was recently on this program, tom swazi, democrat from the Third District of new york in the United States house of representatives. When the welders came to is talking about how to create good paying jobs in this country. Thats also when the wall street journal. Craig is up next. Should the United States toughen drug sentencing . New orleans, louisiana. Republican. Good morning. Caller hi, good morning. I just want to say very quickly, i recently got cable, and one of the biggest reasons was because you cannot define cspan on cable. Absolutely 100 believe that we need to toughen our drug laws, with the exception of medical cannabis, medical marijuana. That is one of the biggest reasons we voted, overwhelmingly we campaigned iand canvassed, and we voted, and if we dont get it, 2020, when it comes, we are getting it. I wanted to say that, and real quick, you mentioned about the russia think. Thing. This is a question that was up last week. Absolutely, we dont need another independent, as they say, independent investigation. Weve got a bazillion of them already. Weve gotten deep enough into this antitrump media, you know, let me say enough is enough, ok . The dems are trying to hold this country hostage. They dont want anything. Cannot is enough. Host all right, craig, gotcha. We will be talking about that later. There areay, other ways to get cspan content as well. There is cspan radio, the cspan radio app you can download, cspan. Org has all our programming, a great place to go if you ever miss a washington journal or any of those Committee Hearings or any of the action on the floor of the house and senate. Plenty of ways to get cspan. Thanks for watching. Chris is in muskegon, michigan. Good morning. Caller good morning. Laws andfor tougher tougher sentencing. What i am four is more education and more social work. I have been going into jails for over 10 years. That there is a big return, once and again, over and over. What thats told me is that once they get out, they just go back to their old life, because thats the only thing they know. I have seen four girls in one year that died from heroin overdoses. Heroin . E just stop i dont know. But i know that if they have a job, they arent going to get a job if they have a felony on them. They arent going to get any kind of resources to get them better, to get out of jail. All it is, its a continual circle. Host what sort of program are you with that you go into prisons over the past 10 years . Caller its an anatomist program. Host had you get involved . Caller yes, gets not present, is jail. Prison, its jail. Most people dont realize that. Populationhe biggest that is incarcerated with everyone. When people think about prison, they think, ok, those are the hard ones. Ok, they are and they arent. More its much whats the word . Everyone, anh everyone kind of population. Count diversified felons. Everyone is thrown in together. Host for those who are confused about the difference between jail and prison, can you throw the definitions out there . Caller ok. I guess i just said it. The difference is that, in prison, you are there, can you are going to be there for over 12 months. In jail, its less than 12 months. Thats the difference. Them or convict them with 11 months and they will go to jail. If they have 12 months they are going to prison. Host how do you get involved in this program, where you go in and work with individuals who are in jail . Caller well, i work with groups and individuals. I got involved with it through an anatomist program, like i said, who work with people. That is part of our goal, to help people with drug and alcohol problems. Host chris, thanks for calling in. 15 minutes left in the segment of washington journal, as we talk about the efforts by the Justice Department to push for tougher drug sentencing. We want to hear your thoughts. David is in watford city, north dakota. Republican. Good morning. Caller good morning. What ive got is that i believe they should toughen drug sentencing, and i really wouldnt want to see them legalize it, because i am afraid that it would probably collapse our economy. The reason why i say that is because there is a lot of people out there that rely totally and completely on the addicted person. I would hate to see all those people, the people, lose their jobs. I would hate to see them out of work, i would hate to see all those Prison Guards they shut down all those facilities. I just dont know what i would do if my brother lost his job. Host what does he do . Caller hes a prison guard. And then i have a cousin who is a dea, and i will tell you what, it would bother me to know and to no end if you lost his job. Host do you think the economic incentive here, of what some people call the Prison Industrial Complex or the drug companies, whatever you want to talk about, do you think that plays into the decisionmaking by the Justice Department on what they think should and should not be prosecuted under the law . Caller yeah, i do. Thisjust dont think all, westem were totally and completely rely on the addicted person. And weve got to have that person. Without it, it will collapse, the whole thing. Host more of the history of this from the wall street journal, reporting on the attorney generals action. Then attorney general eric federalledged that prosecutors would focus on more dangerous drug traffickers and avoid charging less serious offenders with crimes that were wired mandatory minimum sentences. Those long sentences, he said, lead to disproportionately ravaged minority communities. The story goes into some of the statistics. Federal drug cases dropped by more than 19 between 2012 and 2016. Cases with charges carrying longer mandatory minimum sentence is fell from nearly 60 in 2012 to 45 last year. Prosecutions of more serious Crimes Involving weapons or cartel leaders increased by 17 and 14 respectively over the same period of time. Those are the most recent stats. Want to hear your thoughts this morning. Phone lines, 202 7488000, republicans 202 7488001, independents 202 7488002. Mark in indiana. Independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. Hink my standpoint is should the u. S. Toughen drug sentencing is the question on your screen. I think that we probably should, because you could go to jail for 50 years, but we are also talking about federal prosecutions. Its not someone with a small amount, or medium amount, usually its a larger amount, several kilograms or more. I think with the attorney general sending out this memo, it puts a point on the fact that these sentences are possible and you must prosecute all these cases. Obamas administration seemed to be going in the right direction, but lets try and not go for the sentences, but the next step is to get congress to change these drug laws. I dont know if it should be no penalty, but youre talking about folks making hundreds of thousands of dollars off the books each year. Crime for, its a these drug transactions. That was my point actiono you think this by the Justice Department might spur congress to take another look at this issue, take another crack at trying to change drug laws . Caller thats what im hoping. As some of the newspapers have pointed out, the consensus is maybe these need to come back, but the Justice Department can say, if this is 10 kilograms one also had a handgun, i think one should go away a little bit longer than a 10ther, but sometimes kilogram one under obamas policies may not have been fully prosecuted. Thats my concern. Lets look at the laws we have on the books and make sure congress does. Host marrk, you gave one of the examples heres an example of how this worked under the old astem for possession of hypothetical 100 grams of hair when her marijuana. It would trigger a five year mandatory minimum sentence for the first offense. Under the eric holder memo, the one rescinded, prosecutors might include in charging documents that a person had 75 grams of hair one to avoid being boxed in by the mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Thats an example of how it was used before. We are talking about the changes that made the directive from the Justice Department on friday. Brenda in st. Louis, missouri. Democrat. Go ahead. Caller good morning, thanks for taking my call. For the gentleman that was more worried about his family losing their jobs in whatever, im sure the family members on drugs are just as worried about their families. So lets just send them away for a long time so his people can keep their jobs. Harsh,e drug laws are and i think if you get cocaine, you get less time . So lets just throw away that kia not give them any time at all. It needs to stay the way it is, because we do need compassion. You arrest these people, then they get out, they cant get a job. The people that were transporting the drugs or whatever, selling the drugs, they cant get a job, so they go back to what they know. Theres no salary out here as it is. You cant support a family on the salaries we have out here. We need to do something with the jobs, too, which would be an incentive for people to stop selling the drugs. Thank you. Host mack is in lake charles, louisiana. Republican. Go ahead. Caller i want to thank you for taking my call this morning. Atconcern is, if you look border, from the pacific to the atlantic oceans, all of this is open for drugs to come in. Drugs have been coming into the United States for years and years and its going to continue. It, bute ways to stop its a continuation. You got it on one side but the other side didnt. After you get the drug laws, eric holder was good enough for the time being to hold and i think its just taking it to the extreme. To give somebody that was picked up for a couple grams of marijuana serving five years, when you have murderers serving less time. I think that the laws need to be changed. Congress right now has too much on their plate to be worried about this, so i think that the laws should data same, and give people the opportunity to make the change in their lives. Jobs is the thing that is creating the drug problem. Theres no jobs. Look at detroit, at chicago, at these big cities, philadelphia, baltimore. Open, youb market was would have less drug addicts. Employees require you to take drug tests, and if you fail the drug test, you are withdrawn. This would make people more incentive to stay off the drugs, to take care of their families. Host thanks for the call. A fume are comments from those watching in tweeting along cspanwj. Join the community that does it every day. No, cox should be arresting thieves and murderers, not stoners. For those compassion who sell my grandson dope . Not in my lifetime. Like spokes on a bicycle wheel, numerous solutions are needed. Getting your thoughts, a few more minutes left in the segment before we take you out to axios for the rest of our program to talk about that new Media Company. Some of its journalists and stories they are covering. We want to hear your thoughts matthew in vancouver, washington. Should the u. S. Toughen drug sentencing . Caller i dont i think they should toughen enforcement on the big dealers, the people that smuggle drugs and whatnot. And i think they should keep an eye on the trees. I suspect there are drugs smuggled through the trains. There are a lot of drugs that i dont think i just being by buying private prisons. Then the private prisons make money and they want stiffer drug laws. That campaign, a major owner of private prisons. Im not trusting obama on his talk about prisons. And i inc. Opiates and i think opiates in afghanistan, something should be done about that. The users, i end, t think treatment should be mandatory. There is evidence that suggests the more hours of treatment, the more likely the success. That is one of the only correlations for getting people off drugs. More people we need to be able to go when to to go in to hospitals. A lot of them are using because its easier, and we dont want to throw kids in jail. Host just a few minutes left in the segment, want to get in as many calls as we can. Terry in tennessee, democrat. Caller thank you, good morning. I totally agree with the previous caller and i just want to comment that its a revenue that eric holders legislation is ridiculous. Thank you. Host pam in tennessee, republican. Go ahead. Yeah, the majority of the drug dealers in state prisons, what Jeff Sessions had to say it didnt have anything to do with that. What you want to do was stiff and the penalties for the drug dealers, the drug smugglers, the Drug District leaders. The only way to stop the drug problem is to stop the drugs. If they built that while it might have stopped the drugs. Host all right. Joseph in smallwood, new york. Independents. Caller yes, i believe all drug s, worldwide, have to be eliminated, and the supply of drugs and all the cartels, we have to have a drug war with the federal government and of tination National Type of host got your point. Remember, turn your tv down when you are calling. Talk through your phone. Joseph, our last call in the segment. For the remainder of todays program, we will be featuring guests from the new online Media Company, axios. Theyre out in arlington, virginia. First will be talking to the founder and ceo about the companys Journalistic Mission and the challenges facing a start up on my news organization. Later, the political reporter Jonathan Swann will join us to discuss the latest news from the white house and the Trump Administration agenda, coming up this morning and washington journal. Quite we need Health Professionals who are technically competent. Nd are problem solvers who are team leaders, consensus builders, and who can share power constructively and gracefully. I would just hope you understand what this responsibility means. It means reaching out and helping some an else. It means caring more about we than me. Do not be someones lapdog or sycophant. Have the courage to speak the truth even when it is unpopular. With you aboutlk being open to the unexpected, about making room for the improbable and the unlikely. You can find commencement speeches online at www. Cspan. Org. Years also catch this commencement speeches starting saturday, may 20. Monday, may 27, and on liveial day, may 29 streaming on www. Cspan. Org. Ms. Bloomfield will talk about her desire forrur for Rural Broadband expansion to become a priority under the Trump Administration. What would you say your biggest priorities are right now in congress or the fcc . The broadband being considered part of any infrastructure package being considered. It really is about broadband. It will bring in jobs, it will educationblic safety, all the initiatives that keep. Ur country robust they all come from broadband. So, making sure that policymakers see infrastructure beyond simply roads and bridges. You can catch that tonight on cspan and cspan2. Cspan, where history unfold daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies, and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Washington journal continues. Axiosnow, from headquarters in arlington, virginia, we are joined by axi os founder. Jim, thank you for joining us. Guest